Adjustable feeder and mixer.



J. L WILLFORD.

ADJUSTABLE V 1;

EH AND MIXER.

APPLIGATIGN H.

atented May i3, 191i;A

3 SREETSHSHEET I..

Ms wf. ,Q15

J. L. WILLFORD.

ADJUSTABLE FEEDER AND MIXER.

AE'PLICATION FJ'LD 0510.1, 1911. {,Qjq, Patented May 13, 1913.

3 SHEETS-'SHEET 3.

i lw i Umfmii emeee F.iiiife oeiiiee;

Leeiee To all /wmn/ vi m '1,

Be il known lini, *ll a citizen of iii-ie llo Y Minneapoli iuilie ammi@i State of .Viinnesiim new :in d useful L Feeders and Miti-e l, thefollowing to be. e full, elem', and exec( description of glieim'entifrii, auch as will enable others skilled in Lilie art to zich itappertains to make :imi f the salme,

My invention lieg foi' ite obje/et to provide an impl-overl feeding :mmixing mechanism., which for convenience, designuie n, percent Lgefeeder, and which, generally stated, con-4 Si, -S 0f the novel devicesand Combinations 0f devices hereiiiziier desiilieil und :ileiiiied inthe Claims. From abroad poii'i viewthie rio-czille peieeni'ii'e f if;minable of me to feed one or more Streams; of any kind of Cereals,granular or powdered inzit-elink which are. capable of flowing i111. theform of a Stream and :we noi liquid in their imtme In the preferreflViloedini/miv oi" the veiibion, the dei. eil if; fece and control thesupply if? 'vg-mi mii'efeait stieans of giaiii oi materiale; o be mixedand to thoroughly comiiingle or blend die said mnteiizxls together andlo discharge ille't seme in :i single Stieamo, provisiiwn mede whereby'the relative amounts oi? per centages of the clifeient im'eiifilgSupplied in the mixture or blend muy be Varied, at will. Furthermore,means is povided whereby the total feed. eil/heit of' one or of severaldiiexent materials. in duits of HOW per minut-e, may be viuied al; will.

A percentage feeder olf zliig hamster has many Uses. For insinuar it maybe used to lilen together in the ver gei'cemeges, veirious grades ofwhen? ailier @er al ifm' blending together iii pioper pre tions orpezcezi'zifgee, ,lent grau, or kinds of fiom* or OJnei' p1; Y 4 ,fixedmateriels. However, the po. `i` i if the device ae too numerous for anymi, i'npted enumeration thereof?, ilie above given uses :ne iiose forwhich the iinp'rovei ieelei line been particularly In the asomo Fig Fig.4% i5 a p with some @aus by@ ve'ieal efe/im taken zt line as en 4, wieaway; and il sa. ver on the line 91 a on l'i in lie pw'exi'ed zum vice,a ef L, lei" l is; shown n" emp poete@ eaiing of mein '175i iliei i fiel3i th horizon ,fvx'nelii feel? Also,

projecti lize e'or fi vertical eecuiedl on i as shown, bell"i members :Eand gpiovid o wil; zonal elle@ l@ @met this shaft 'lil I e pulley 11,el. it@ m i* end with bevelefil pinion 1'2 ille@ lief with e, beveled.fear 13 seeisred on lille vezieal daft 5. 'lf3A shaft l0 is iiangez tebe ciifive by a helix not shown, mit 'w' ich will over itil pulley il.

As 'ille viefl lo il sind their l iig foifls :we provid trate the ini/enlieve to loe its p iiiira'ie like views.

'willi ,ricel newbie telescopio'l movable "V Tile/nii@ Cit feed tables8; and, as shown, such adjustment isprovided for by brackets 17 rigidlysecured to the upper ends of the said adjustable spout sections 15 andprovided with proiecting trunnions 18 that work through vertical slots19 in the vertical walls of the housing 7, and are provided at theirouter ends with clamping nuts 20. Also, as an important feature` thebrackets 17 or other parts movable with the respective spout sections1,5, are provided with projecting pointers or indicators 2l that workover graduated scales 22, shown as directly marked on the adjacentportions of the housing 7, (see particularly Figs. 1 and 5`).

rihe relation of the lower ends of the delivery sections 15 of the feedspouts to the underlying feed tables are such that by gravity, the grainor similar material, will f spread out on'the said table, but `will notrun off from the said tables into the hopper. The feeding action isproduced by a rotary sweeper or feed wheel 23 formed with anannular'trough 24 having an openwork or latticed bottom 25. This feedwheel 23 is secured to and carried by the vertical shaft 5, and thelatticed bottom thereof runs with ai ple clearance over the hoppersurfaces of `thefeed tables 3. The lower ends of the adjustable sections15 of the several supply spout-s le are adapted to depend into theannular trough 24 and to work between the vertical walls thereof.

'The direction of rotation of the `feed wheel 23 is shown by arrowsmarked on Figs. 2 and 4. Immediately back of the lower end of eachdelivery spout section 15, the hearing plate 8 is provided with depending back stop [langes 26. The lower edges of these back stops 26 havegood clearance above the latticed bottom 25 of the feed trough 24, butthe side edges of the said back stops very closely engage with thevertical walls of the said trough and may, if

. desired, he provided with packing strips of felt or other material.

Operation: 1n the description of the operation, it will be assumed thatthree different grades of grain, such as wheat, are to be comlningled orblended in certain de sired proportions. The supply s'pouts will, ofcourse, by gravity, be kept filled with grain and the grain will runfrom the lower ends thereof into the annular feed trough 24 of the feedwheel 23, and will spread out on the feed tables but will not overflow,the latter, being confined to a very considerm able extent by the sidesof the said trough, and by the haclr stops 2G. 0f course the extent towhich the grain will spread out on the respective feed tables 3 willdepend upon the vertical adjustments of the respcctive feed spoutsections 15, and also, the rel: ative amounts of the several differentgrades of grain tl'iat will be fed under roH l tation of the feed wheel,will depend upon the vertical elevation of the lower ends of the feedspout sections 15, from the respective tables. YvVhen the scales are tobe graduated to indicate the number f cubic inches of grain fed perminute under rotati'on of the feed wheel, a definite speed of rotationof the said feed wheel must be assumed. Otherwise stated, the scale 22is graduated for a machine in which the s eed of rotation of the feedwheel is definitely known. N13-hen this is done, the operator may veryquickly and easily set the different feed spout sections so that theywill feed the desired relative amounts figured in units of cubic inchesper minute. Variation in the speed of rotation of the feed 'wheel willvary the number of cubic inches per minute, but not the relative orproportionate amounts of material fed into the hopper from the severalsupply spouts` 14. Considering further the feeding action under rotation the grain or material delivered onto the feed tables from the feedspout sections 15 will be positively prevented from running backward bythe back stops 26, and will be confined between the vertical walls ofthe feed trough 24 and in frictional engagement therewith, so that underrotary movement of the said feed wheel, the side walls,4 as well as thelatticed bottom of the said feed wheel, will operate to positively feedthe grain forward and olf from the respective feed tables. This insuresa positive and evenly proportioned or graduated feed of the material.The accuracy of the feeding action is due' very largely to the latticedor open bottom of the annular feed trough of the feed wheel, and it isevident that the circumferentially spaced lateral bars which afford thelatticed bottom to the said trough, will continuously sweep the grain ormate- Yof the feed wheel, it will be noted that rial from the feedtables into the mixing hopper 1. Thus th sides and bottom of the feedtrough of the feed wheel operate positively to feed a stream of grain,the crosssection of which is predetermined by the distance between theside walls of the. feed trough 24 and the distance between the feedtable and overlying lower extremity of the adjustable feed spout section15. The grain, or material that has been swept off from the feed tables,will, of course, immediately fall through the latticed bottom of thefeed trough and theA several streams of different graf es of grain ormaterial will thus be constantly and evenly commingled in the hopperaridkdelivered from the h0pper in a single thoroughly blended stream. Byreference particularly to Fig. 6, it will .be noted that the feed table8, in the direction of rotation of the' feed wheel, is ex tended so farfrom the respective back stops 26 that even when the spout sections 15are als - when the feed Wheel is stopped.

noeneie movement into the hopper, so that a Whirl- -ing motion is set upwhich very thoroughly7 evenly end continuously, commingle the ma terialsin the hopper.

The device, as already indicated, is especially designed forconiniingling or biend ing dierent materials or grades ot the sainemateriel, but it involves novel und important features capable of use asu single feed y*device for supplying a, positive or predeter- 'ininedquantity of a single kind oi' grade of material.. What I claim is:

, 1. In a feed device of the kind described, the combination with a.feed table, of o ro tary 'feed Wheel having e continuous anni lar feedtrough With continuelle parallel walls ,and openings in its bottomarranged to move immediately above said eed tub-le, and e Supply spouthaving its lower end located verticzaiily over said feed table andextended downward into the annular feed trough of said feed wheel.

` 2. In e feed device of the kind described, the combination with a feetable, oi e, iro tary feed Wheel having a continuous annuw lar feed-trough with continuous parallel Walls and openings in its bottomarranged to move immediately above said feed table, e supply spouthaving' its lower end' located i verticaliy over said feed table andextended Idownward into the annular feed trough of vseid feed wheel, ande relatively tixed back stop extended downward into Seid annular feedtrough in'imediately back of the lower or deliver f end of said eu lv soutc Pl P 3. In a feed device of the kind described the combina-lion'with e feed fobie, of :To-- tary feed Wheel having e continue-ue annuler feed trough with continuous parallel ertioel walls and openings inits bottoni. ei

ranged lto `move immediately above said feed table,v and. a supply abouthevingan "adjustable delivery enddepeuding int-o and arranged to troughimm i 4i. .ln i die combirr tion with a feed table, of a rotary eedvitriel l'ieving an annuler' feed trough with continuous parallelvert-ical Wells and openings in its bottom arranged to move 'immediatelyover said feed table, a supply spout arranged to deliver material intoseid feed trough immediately above seid feed table.y and a back stoplocated immediately at the rear osaid feed spout and depending i itoseid feed trough.

im in e f=d device ci e kino.

d tali 1 ely above sind Ieed table.

.l escribed, .a of a rotlie combination with a, tary feed wheel having ei lar feed trough with r/tinue parallel Walls und openings in it ootto@`arranged to move immediately ein. seid `ed table, a n )out having .lowerlocated vertically over said feed table and extended downward into theannuler ieed trough of said feed wheel,v and a relatively fixed backstop extended downward into d annular feed trough iininediuteiy bucleoi.' tl'ie lower or felix v' e of seid supply spout, thc

Said .iced 'table being! extended in the direction of rolffitimi ol mid,vliee so es to prevent groin supplied thereto by said spout from.riuniin oil' from the seme when the fend olif i ete-udine; eiill.

o. feed de Y i of the kind described,

the combination 'with s Y ci treble, e rotary feed 'vi/'heel havingcontinuous annulor feed trough xviiL Continuous parallel 'nils undepenii its bottoni arranged to move imniedciv over Seid toed table, nrelntivclyXe-d baci; stop extended. downn Werdv into the annuler troughof Seid feed Wheel imnie 'telv eliove sold Y.feed table., and :i euprl 3vertizzelly :id-- instable t downward into the annu gli o se c feedwheel in'iniedietely above said feed infie and inimediutely in frontotsaid back stop.

,in testimony 'ivlereoi l affix my signature i? VAnce of two witnesses.

di) SEPH Li VHLLFORD Witnesses Fl. D. MERCHAN'; Heuer D. Kinooni.

evice of the kind described,

.r nieteiiei into seid ieed

